MORE NEWS, BULACAN

Police seize P30M smuggled sugar in Bulacan warehouse

MERCAUAYAN, Bulacan -- The Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group seized some 22,000 sacks of smuggled sugar worth P30 million here in its “unwavering campaign against unscrupulous traders,” its officials said.

PASG chief Undersecretary Antonio Villar said his men swooped down on a warehouse at the Starling Compound at Meridian Industrial Park here following information that imported sugar was being repacked there.

The PASG operatives were given a freehand in inspecting the 1,000-square-meter warehouse after they presented the mission order to the warehouse checker, the agency said in a statement.

Investigation showed the warehouse owner, a certain Danny Coral, is a wholesaler of sugar in Metro Manila and Central Luzon.

To encourage the public to buy his sugar, Villar said Coral used sacks printed with the names of local sugar producers Central Azucarera de Bais Inc. in Negros Oriental, and Victorias Milling Company Inc. and First Farmers Holding Corp., both in Negros Occidental.

A cargo van with license plate TWG 761 was reportedly used in delivering the repacked sugar, the PASG said.

The PASG’s operations against unscrupulous sugar traders are in line with the memorandum of agreement it signed with the Sugar Regulatory Administration last year. -- PR